Ryokō netsu
by DemonoftheCinderDragons
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki can't take it anymore after losing his powers and being abandoned by everyone so he leaves without telling anyone where he's going. He travels around the world searching for a place to belong, he thinks he's finally found it, that is until he meets her…
1. Chapter 1

**Ryokō netsu**

**Chapter 1:**

*****I do not own Bleach*****

*****I do however own Ketsueki*****

**Kesshite hokori ni tatte inai subete no ue ni tatte iru to, kanojo wa sorera no dare ga machigatte iru no yurushi**

**(She who stands proud stands above all and never forgives those who wrong her)**

My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, I was a Vizard until the winter war, where I lost all of my powers fighting a megalomaniac, when no one else could. I was 16 then, I'm 23 now and since that day when I ended the war, my friends and family have all but turned their backs on me. This is my story.

The first six months after the winter war were hard, I'll give my friends credit for not wanting to hang around me, heck I didn't want to hang around myself then. But when I finally managed to pull myself out of the hole I was in no one would look me in the eye. I tried asking after everyone in soul society but I was evaded every time. I even went to Kisuke who turned me away at the door.

Before he could send me away though I heard the voices of all my human friends and Orihime's distinct voice saying "Come on Rukia try this new dessert I made," Kisuke didn't have to try to make me leave that time. As quickly as I could I turned on my heel before he could say another word and stormed off in defeat. When I got home I wasn't surprised to find it empty, Yuzu was at a cooking camp, dad was most likely at Kisuke's place now that he was done with work and Karin was most likely with him or in soul society visiting Toshiro…again.

The ache in my heart was getting to be too much and each night I found it hard to stay in the house until I finally caved after the tenth month of being powerless passed and I began walking the streets and beating up gangs to ease some of my restless tension. It only worked for a few weeks before the ache came back full force. I woke up sometimes in the middle of the night choking on my screams from nightmares that no one seemed to care that I might have had. I was always the strongest, they must still think that, they don't know what I've all been through. They weren't always there with me when I went through most of my battles. For them I had always been their rock, always there to support them in hard times- they must not have realized that I had my own hard times but no rock to lean on.

At school whenever I walked past Orihime, Chad and Ishida they just looked at me with pity in their eyes. Whenever I inquired about anything spiritually related I was ignored completely. That's what hurt the most. No one cared. They thought keeping me away would help me move on but they didn't see that keeping everything, my whole life from me was only causing me more pain and driving me to make the decision I made after I finally graduated from high school.

I packed everything that I could have needed, clothes, toiletries, money and my passport. I left my combat pass and a note on the counter explaining what I was doing and why. I put on my shoes and walked out the door confident that no one would see me leave so early in the morning.

My name is Ketsueki no last name and yes my name means blood get over it. I'm an orphan with no place that I belong, so as soon as I was old enough I left the orphanage where I was raised. No one wanted to adopt me because of my name and the poor orphanage couldn't help me by changing my name when I was young because it didn't have any extra money to spare. I left behind no friends, everyone there was younger than me, no one was even close to my age except maybe one or two of the help that volunteered to watch us kids. But I did leave behind what I considered to be my family. A lot of the kids cried saying they didn't want their big sister to leave. That was the only thing that delayed my leaving for a few extra days.

Eventually I managed to pull myself away and left before any of them woke up the next morning. The only person to see me off was the dean herself. She was like a mother figure to me, but she was way too old by the time I came to the orphanage to adopt and take care of a baby. Though she never admitted it she was afraid of me. I still remember the day she told me how I got my name.

Flash Back

"_Ketsueki," dean called me from her office, "come here a moment please I need to talk to you." I followed her into her office obediently and sat down when she motioned to the chairs in front of her desk. She handed me a cup of hot chocolate and she sat down in her chair with a cup of very black coffee. It was after all very early in the morning. I had been up in the kitchen working with the staff making breakfast for the younger kids because I couldn't sleep so I figured I might as well have gotten up and started doing something. When I had started doing that I had not expected the dean to pay me for it. Her short response to my unanswered question was that, "If I was working I was getting paid." The little memory made me smile. I had three jobs then not including working in the mornings making breakfast at the orphanage or going to school. I had saved up a lot of money then and with a few more years left at the orphanage I would have enough to make it on my own once I left. I accepted the cup of hot chocolate and took a tentative sip as the liquid was very hot. I set the cup down failing to get even a small taste of the delicious smelling drink and got straight to the point. "Did I do something wrong dean? Why have you called me here?" She was silent for a while watching me over the brim of her cup though her thin wire glasses. It was like she was anticipating my reaction to whatever she was going to say._

_ "Ketsueki, I hear you've been asking the help that's been here longer than you have if they knew why your name Ketsueki means blood and why you were named that. I'll start by saying you can stop asking them because none of them know why and-" I was about to say something until she gave me a stern look before continuing, "I'm going to tell you now why you were given the name Ketsueki, when the police found you it had been three days after your parents were killed. You were a toddler then only being able to crawl, but before your mother had died she had written your name in her blood as it pooled around her, 'Ketsueki' was the only part of your name written that was no smeared after you had played in their blood, before anyone found you." I sat there for a while stunned at this new found revelation, my mother had tried to write my name but because I was so little I had crawled through and smeared my own name so no one was able to decipher what my real name was. I had named myself._

End Flash Back

"Dean thank you for everything there are no words that I could possibly say to express how grateful I am to you for all the things you've done for me for all these years that I have been here. But I must go now, I can't stay here anymore. My heart yearns for the road. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," I said quickly when I realized that the old woman before me was trying not to cry. I stepped forward and gave her a gentle hug and whispered a last good by before letting her go and walking away. I couldn't make myself look back because if I did I knew I wouldn't have been able to leave ever. As I walked down the road I heard the old dean say one last thing before I couldn't hear her anymore.

"Shinzoku."

My name is Ketsueki Shinzoku and I left the orphanage where I was raised, to lead a happy life on the road. My first destination…anywhere.

"No regrets!" I shouted back to the old dean before she was gone from my view as I got on the first bus to the train station. It was the best decision I ever made, I only wish I left sooner.

*****Shinzoku means kindred*****


	2. Chapter 2

**Ryokō netsu**

**Chapter 2**

*****I do not own Bleach*****

*****I do own Ketsueki*****

***Ichigo's P.O.V. ***

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm 23 years old," I answered the flight attendants question as I handed her my license. She looked it over then handed it back to me before reaching into her cart and pulling out a bottle of Corona and handing that to me as well.

"Here you are sir."

"Thank you mi 'lady," I said and she blushed heavily before nodding and moving to the next row of seats to serve the next traveler. I sat back in my seat and took a sip of my drink. The plane I was on was small but that was fine, it wasn't a long trip anyway. Currently we were sitting in an airport in England waiting to take off towards Spain. It had been five years since I left home and for those years I've been traveling across the world doing odd jobs to save enough money to continue traveling. I had already covered the major places in South America, Asia, Australia, India and Africa. Now I've decided to tackle Europe starting with England and making my way South before heading Northeast, then North ending in Norway before getting on another plane to visit Iceland, Greenland then going to the North American continent for a whole new adventure.

I opened my eyes, wondering when I shut them, when I felt someone bump into my knees. I got a face full of fine ass. The woman in front of me appeared to be my age and when she saw me looking at her she sent me a glare before shoving past me and falling rather gracelessly into the seat next to me. I continued to watch her before she noticed me looking at her. She shot me another glare.

"What never seen a woman before?" She asked hotly before buckling herself in then turning to look out the window.

"I have but I must say I've never seen one as fine as you. What is your name?" I said trying to flirt with her.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me and stop trying to flirt it's unbecoming of you," she shot back before turning to look back out the window. I decided then that I wouldn't get a decent conversation out of her and turned back to my now empty drink. 'How did that happen? I don't remember drinking it all.' I was about to call the stewardess for another drink when the captain's voice came on over the intercom telling us to take our seats and prepare for take-off. I set my empty glass bottle in the pouch on the back of the seat in front of me and sat back for the ride. We began moving and as we were taking off I felt someone move my arm off my arm rest and turned to shoot my own glare at the nameless woman sitting next to me when I noticed she was gripping the seat rest fiercely with her jaw clenched tightly. I couldn't resist teasing her.

"What tigress afraid of heights? First time flying?" She turned to look at me and I got a full view of just how afraid she was.

"I'm not afraid of heights and it's not my first time flying. I just don't like take offs or landings they make me nervous," she replied gently before turning back to the window. I shrugged and faced back forward until I heard her voice again.

"And my names not tigress, its Ketsueki Shinzoku."

"Ichigo Kurosaki, it's a pleasure to meet you Ketsueki," I replied quietly before, and I still don't know what made me do it, taking her hand in mine and holding it gently before pulling it to my lips and kissing her knuckles. She looked at me stunned, she made no move to pull her hand away from mine and nor did I move to let her go. Our eyes met and the flight seemed to be over before we got enough of each other.

As we disembarked I followed Ketsueki closely off the plane not wanting to lose her. As soon as we were off and in the luggage pick up of the airport I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to me. She looked up at me with wide innocent hazel eyes as I asked her with all the seriousness I could muster.

"Come with me?" She was silent for a while just looking at me searching my eyes, searching my soul, searching deeper than anyone has ever looked before. She's seen into me, I feel as if she's seen everything from my past, my darkest side and she's not afraid. There's a new look in her eyes, a look of understanding. She nods her head then replies.

"Yes, I'll go with you."

"Yes, I'll go with you," did I really just say that? Yes I did, I blame it on his eyes, when I looked into them it was like I was drowning in a pool of sorrow and loneliness. I felt this strange and powerful urge to erase those feelings from his very being. He took my hand and we walked out of the airport together to begin a new journey together. I couldn't have been happier. I finally found someone who understood at least a little part of me and didn't judge me when he learned my name.

I had never met anyone in all my travels these last five years to not judge my name and it made me happy that he didn't even after he asked why I was called 'Ketsueki.'

"Ichigo, where are we going?"

"Well my plan was to travel around to the major sites of Europe before making my way to North America, but I think I'd rather backpack through Europe and spend as much time with you as I possibly can."

"Well it looks like you're stuck with me because I have no intention of leaving your side. I have no destination in mind, like you I've been wandering around the world for the last five years looking for a place to belong and Ichigo I've found mine and until you find yours I'll be with you and if you still want me by your side then I will stay there. Ichigo you asked me to come with you, why would you think I'd leave you?"

"I've had bad experiences with people leaving me behind and I don't think I'd be able to survive that experience again," he replied after a while of searching my eyes to most likely see if I would leave him if I found out his darkest secret.

"Ichigo, I pride myself on being an honest person, it's how I was raised in the orphanage. So I'll tell you here and now that once I've decided to stand by someone there is nothing in the world that will pull me away unless you've done something so unforgivable directly to me. Believe me it takes a lot to do even that."

"I was the same way once but look at me now. Ketsueki how do I," before he could continue I cut him off by sealing my lips over his. His reaction was instantaneous, he responded in kind and pulled me closer by putting his hands on either side of my head and holding me to him. It was only a few seconds after I dared follow my instincts and kiss him when he dominated the kiss. After we pulled away I looked up into his half lidded cloudy eyes.

"Was I to bold?" I asked quietly as I felt a blush warming my cheeks as a sudden unfamiliar burst of shyness overcame me.

"Not at all," Ichigo replied breathlessly and he killed me with his million watt smile.

***Author's Note***

For those who reviewed and thought to rant to me about originality I hope you are happy that I changed the title of my story (to a different language). Next time wait until there's more than one chapter to take a crack at me.

Also Thank you to those who are following this story, to be honest I did not expect such great results so quickly. Again thank you and please continue to review.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ryokō netsu**

**Chapter 3:**

*****I do not own Bleach*****

*****I do however own Ketsueki*****

**Kesshite hokori ni tatte inai subete no ue ni tatte iru to, kanojo wa sorera no dare ga machigatte iru no yurushi**

***Previously***

"Ichigo, I pride myself on being an honest person, it's how I was raised in the orphanage. So I'll tell you here and now that once I've decided to stand by someone there is nothing in the world that will pull me away unless you've done something so unforgivable directly to me. Believe me it takes a lot to do even that."

"I was the same way once but look at me now. Ketsueki how do I," before he could continue I cut him off by sealing my lips over his. His reaction was instantaneous, he responded in kind and pulled me closer by putting his hands on either side of my head and holding me to him. It was only a few seconds after I dared follow my instincts and kiss him when he dominated the kiss. After we pulled away I looked up into his half lidded cloudy eyes.

"Was I to bold?" I asked quietly as I felt a blush warming my cheeks as a sudden unfamiliar burst of shyness overcame me.

"Not at all," Ichigo replied breathlessly and he killed me with his million watt smile.

***Ichigo's P.O.V. ***

Ketsueki and I were sitting in a restaurant eating dinner after getting off the plane. Ever since we met and decided to travel together we never came to a point where we didn't have something to talk about. But for some reason silence fell between us and Ketsueki was staring out the window with a look of horror on her face.

"Ketsueki? What's wrong?" She jumped when I spoke and looked at me startled that I had spoken, she was that focused on whatever was outside the window. I glanced at where she was looking before and saw nothing.

"Ichigo do you believe in ghosts?" Her statement alone surprised me coupled with the look of horror on her face, old instincts told me that what she was seeing outside the window was a hollow.

"Yes, I do. What do you see Ketsueki?" She looked uncertain at first but she squared her shoulders and looked me in the eye and said very seriously.

"Ichigo there's a demon outside this restaurant it's been following me since I left the orphanage. It's one of the reasons I decided to leave. I thought that if it followed me it would leave the other kids alone and my gamble paid off. But I'm scared, I don't know what to do about it. No one else can see it. Can you?"

"Ketsueki, there's no need to be afraid, not yet anyway. A long time ago I used to fight those creatures but I lost my powers and can no longer see them. I can tell you all I know about them but I'm afraid it will not make you feel any better. As of right now there really is nothing we can do about it but find out why it's following you."

"Okay, so what is that thing anyway?"

"It's called a hollow, a demon of the spirit world, the hole in their chests signifies the loss of their hearts and the mask protects their identities. They eat the souls of the living and the dead. They are the Shinigami's mortal enemy."

"So what happened so long ago that you know so much about these creatures?"

"I was a Shinigami, hollow hybrid. I fought these mindless monsters in order to protect the people I cared about. It was a well-known fact that my power could rival that of the head captains. And when a captain of the Gotei 13 defected, with two other captains, and took over the hollow realm in order to create an army, in order to take over the world as god, I stepped up to fight him because he was going to use my home and all the people in it to make a key in order to get to gods realm. I lost my powers in our final show down when I used a technique that would use up all my spirit energy in order to destroy him in a single swing of my sword."

"This Gotei 13 must have really believed in you if they let you fight him alone like that. Why couldn't they fight him though? Why did you have to do it?"

"To be honest I don't know the answer to that question and I don't particularly care to know it either. After I lost my powers completely I became like any ordinary human and I guess I can understand why my friends didn't want anything to do with me for a while there. I wasn't necessarily the best person to hang around. But after a while I began to notice the way they avoided me whenever anything spiritually related came up and eventually that also stemmed to my sisters as well as my father. Heck I never even saw any of my Shinigami friends come around either. They could have at least put on gigai to come and see me…they at least could have done that and I would have been happy. If my friends had come to me and talked to me about the spirit world I would have been happy. If they had not treated me any differently because I lost my powers I would have been happy. But as it was they began to avoid me instead of the other way around. So I threw myself into school and got out of there the first chance I got, I've had absolutely no contact with anyone of them since then."

"Wow it had to have been hard to even do that."

"What about you? Did you leave anyone behind?"  
>"Not anyone as important as family, but I guess you could call them family. That's what they all were to me at the orphanage. But it was easy to leave since I was protecting them and I make a few phone calls here and there when I have enough cash on me."<p>

"Sounds like you really do love them, if you're willing to go so far for them."

"I could say the same about you Ichigo, you lost your powers and your ability to interact with the spirit world for your friends and family and even people you didn't know. It's sad that no one can really understand the sacrifice you've made." A long bout of silence followed after that and Ketsueki just played with the food on her plate distractedly while I had finished mine long ago, I decided to take pity on her wandering thoughts.

"Ketsueki do you want a box for that? You can eat it warm later if you want. We don't have to sit here if you're so uncomfortable."

"Thank you Ichigo, I would like that. But how are we going to pay for the bill?"

"Don't worry about it I still have plenty of money left over…from…that…job."

"What job?"

"Oh nothing."

"Ichigo common tell me, what job are you avoiding telling me about?"  
>"Well since I left straight out of high school I didn't have very much money to get me anywhere too far so I took a few odd jobs here and there that paid very well or were actually going to where I wanted to go so yeah a few months ago I ran out of money and picked up a night job at a…strip…club…and ya know I wasn't always ya know into that kind of thing before so that's where I picked up on the whole flirting thing I was teasing ya with…before and a few other things that would make everyone back home go 'who the hell is this guy and where's Ichigo,' on the plane so ya it paid a lot of money in one night so I worked a few weeks there and…you don't have to worry about the bill, I'll take care of it."<p>

"You're blushing."

"No I'm not!"

"Are to, I think it's cute. You still have an innocence about you. I like that." The waitress came by with a box and the bill. Ketsueki packed up her food while I paid for the bill and left a tip. We were packed up and leaving the restaurant in less than five minutes. And just our luck as soon as we walked out the door it started pouring rain and yes hailing outside. I cursed and pulled Ketsueki towards me while she opened up an umbrella and we took off down the street hand in hand towards the motel sign five blocks down.

***Ketsueki's P.O.V. ***

The umbrella didn't help at all, not with the wind blowing the rain sideways and coincidentally right in our faces, at least we were mostly protected from the hail. We ran the whole five blocks to the motel matching each other stride for stride. It was amazing I never expected anyone to have as much will power and strength to match my never ending spoils of energy. I suppose it's from all the fighting and training he did as a Shinigami. We soon reached the motel and as we walked in we were greeted with the sight of a very long line to the check in desk. We waited about an hour in a half and just as the storm was letting up we got to the front of the line.

"What rooms do you have left?" Ichigo asked the clerk calmly.

"We only have c-c-couples beds now s-s-sir," the clerk responded flushed from the unexpected rush.

"Will that be alright with you Ketsueki?"

"Uhm y-y-yeah that's fine I stuttered," 'Does he have any idea what he just said? We'd be sharing a BED!'

"One room then please," Ichigo responded to the clerk pleasantly while the clerk took his cash and gave us our room key. As we were walking away I just had to ask.

"Um Ichigo-" he cut me off before I could finish.

"Don't worry about it, I'll sleep on the floor and you can have the bed. Besides its only one night, I think I'll live."

"O-o-okay," I responded unsurely. We reached our room in a few minutes after climbing a set of old beaten down wooden stairs. Room number 312. As soon as we walked in I felt bad. There was a huge bed enough to fit three maybe four people comfortably. We set our stuff down and I claimed the shower first when I saw Ichigo getting undressed. His white shirt had stuck to his skin and left nothing to the imagination of the beautifully ripped muscles underneath as he pulled it over his head. The way his muscles flexed and stretched when both his arms were above his head damn near gave me a nosebleed and I quickly ran for the safety of the bathroom. I didn't waste any time getting in but once I was in and washed it was hell trying to get myself to get out. Once I was dried dressed and finished with my routine I let a half-naked Ichigo have the bathroom. Okay the bed may have been big but the room was sure as hell small, in fact I was still wondering where Ichigo was planning on sleeping on the floor because there was no room anywhere. As it was we had to brush…rather...closely to get through. Let's just say I decided to forgo wearing a bra to bed because it uncomfortable as all hell and when I brushed passed his toned chest well yeah I wasn't so sure what to think about the tingly sensations that went all the way down my spine to my toes and back up the my nether regions. My gaze instantly went to his and when our eyes met it was like staring into a pool so deep there was no bottom and oh how much did I just want to fall in.

I unconsciously leaned in as he did and our lips met in a very, very passionate kiss that had me on cloud nine and going up.

***** Sorry it took me so long to update- been studying for finals and catching up on school work. God College is such a pain. If someone ever tells you it's easy- punch 'em in the nose and tell 'em ta screw off cuz they lying *****

*****Any way please review and let me know what you think*****


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